DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. — Jimmie Johnson ran out of gas coming to the checkered flag Thursday night, causing a wild melee that sent Clint Bowyer's car into a flip in the second 150-mile Daytona 500 qualifying race at Daytona International Speedway.

Johnson took the blame for the wreck, which left no one injured but at least six drivers needing backup cars for the big race Sunday.

Bowyer laughed when watching video of his flip, which resulted in his car coming down on all four tires.

“The biggest part is when you go up, you’re not worried about that, it’s like, ‘Oh no, what’s this thing going to do when it lands?’” Bowyer said. “Hell, it was on it’s (wheels), headed in the right direction. You can’t ask for much better than that.”

A driver running out of gas is rare, Bowyer said, but he knew Johnson was running close on fuel, joking “maybe the way them engines run, maybe they drink that much gas.”

“I knew the 48 (of Johnson) was up to something when they were saving gas … for three laps, and then they run out and wrecked a bunch of cars out there,” Bowyer said. “We’ve got to quit doing weird things.

“I’m not pointing any fingers at anybody, but I’ve never seen anybody saving fuel to get to the end of one of these things unless they were trying to be tricky and doing something and in doing so tore up a bunch of cars again.”

Johnson apologized for the accident and tried to wave his arm out the window as he ran out of gas so other drivers knew he had a problem.

“I ran out of gas and I feel terrible that so many good racecars were torn up,” Johnson said. “Thankfully everybody is OK. To see the 15 (of Bowyer) upside-down and tumbling, man, I hate it.”

It actually wasn’t all that bad, Bowyer said. Bowyer's car got launched after getting hit from behind by David Ragan.

“It’s an eerie silence. … It was fine,” Bowyer said. “That was as lucky as you can ask for. I’m just happy to survive. Anytime you can flip, it can be scary.”